Thirteen
by SeeMeInTheShadows
Summary: Luck is relentless, the lack of luck even more so.
1. Treize

A/N: I wouldn't call this a multi-chap, but I wouldn't call it a series of oneshots either. It's somewhere in the middle. I warn you, it will not always stay this light. In fact, at times it will get _downright_ _dark_. Updates will most likely take a while. Beware of gratuitous (not really gratuitous but there are quite a few of them) use of parentheses.

I'd like to thank _Kelly_, who is absolutely amazing and really helped out with this, whether she wanted to or not which resulted with an amazing prompt to fill out. And she encouraged me and listened to me blathering and I love her. And I'd like to thank _Soul Jelly_, who is awesome and English and helped me not sound like I'm completely ignorant.

* * *

There are two types of people in the world.

There are the people who like it when a teacher picks partners for them. (No awkward eye contact, no one is left out, they don't have to worry about hurting someone's feelings). And then there are the people who like picking their own partners. (They know how to work with their friends, they actually like the people they work with, no chance of getting Nicholas.)

Ulrich Stern was part of the latter group.

So, when the lovely yet elderly Suzanne Hertz had mentioned they were going to do a partner project, he had simply turned to the seat behind him and shared a nod with Odd. (Actually, Odd and he had both tried to nab Aelita and Jeremie first, but the two had been oblivious: already in a discussion about the newest model of the atom.)

And then, when she followed with "I will choose the groups." his world had promptly come to a screeching halt. Or, he was mildly upset.

You see, Ulrich was well liked. And even more, he knew he was well liked. And, when you were well liked, as Ulrich was, it also meant that you could get better grades with less effort.

For instance, Jeanne had a thing for Chemistry and Thomas had a photographic memory. And they would both do anything he asked, as long as it wasn't excessive. Excessive being 'try to kill Odd.' Of course, as an upstanding role model, Ulrich had never asked them to do that.

Not that Ulrich ever counted on this persuasion. But sometimes, knowing you had the power to not do something made the act of doing it so better.

Point in being, Ulrich was not entirely worried.

Mrs. Hertz, being an up and coming teacher, found an online sorter that would sort students into random groups of two ("Or," she had said, "seemingly random. You see, nothing in this world is truly random. The best we can do is base it these off events and algorithms that are as random as possible.") and used the new projector to show this in real-time to the class.

Ulrich stared at the screen in mild curiosity. Because he really didn't care who he got. (Jeremie and Aelita would be ideal, but the 'random' generator had paired those two together on the first drawing. Odd would be next, which was a little funny because he was the only person who worked less than Ulrich).

Slowly but surely, the list shrunk and shrunk, until only four people were on it. Ulrich smiled victoriously as Odd had made the cuts. Looks like this 'random' choosing would pay off well in the end.

And then Odd got paired with Theo. As he walked to join his new group, he sent Ulrich a regretful look like only Odd could pull off. The expression that had stemmed from years of watching Kiwi and practice imitating the apparent innocence of a cat. Then, he came face to face with Theo. The two high-fived and walked away.

The look, the betrayal. It made Ulrich sick.

"Well then, I guess you're with me, Ulrich Dear."

In horror, Ulrich turned away from where Odd had walked away to come face to face with none other than Sissi Delmas. As if in slow motion, he turned his eyes to the projector screen. The only two faces that remained unpaired were his and Sissi's.

Fantastic.

The next few minutes of his focus took place entirely in his head and were rather full of angst. Ulrich was not having a good day to begin with. His alarm clock had been unplugged by none other than Odd when he had wanted to charge that stupid game device late last night. Which meant he had woken up late to a fully clothed and ready-to-go Odd. His shoes had come untied and he tripped right in front of Yumi. And he was paired with Sissi for a science project.

It was one of those days where if XANA was still around, there would be a XANA attack. And not a normal one, either, a bloodsucking leech infest swimming pool XANA attack. The way this day was going, XANA would probably come back right before lunch.

So Ulrich, being a good Lyoko Warrior, turned his gaze to Jeremie. Jeremie seemed to be talking to Aelita. He said something quietly and she giggled and started to draw a diagram.

Einstein wasn't sweating. His hands were loose and relaxed. He seemed at ease and his conversation didn't seem too serious (though Ulrich had seen Jeremie argue against laws of nature like he was discussing the weather). He didn't look nervous.

But, again, Ulrich was a Lyoko Warrior, and protecting the world was his duty. So he bent in close to Jeremie and Aelita and whispered, "Did XANA launch an attack?"

Did he sound too hopeful?

Jeremie and Aelita stared at him. Then, Jeremie, who apparently thought he had interpreted what Ulrich had been meaning to ask, said, "J.J. Thomson. Plum pudding model." He put his hand on Ulrich's shoulder. "You can do this, Ulrich. Don't let her bring you down."

"We'll be praying for you," Aelita said.

Across the room, Odd and Theo sent a spitball that landed on Ulrich's cheek. The two put their heads down to hide their laughter but Ulrich could see their shoulders shaking.

At least he wouldn't get the lowest grade on this project.

Sissi tapped him on the shoulder. "Ulrich," she said, and he could tell she was starting to get annoyed. "If you're finished daydreaming, we should get to work. Now what do we know about plum pudding."

"I've never had it."

Sissi stared at Ulrich. Then, after long last, she said, "It's good."

"You've had it?"

Sissi shrugged and suddenly started tracing the outlines of the wood in her desk. "My mom was English and used any excuse she could to bake." Sissi wrinkled her nose. "She wasn't very good at it though, which is why she always supervised my father while he made it."

Ulrich smiled at the image: Principal Delmas baking as his wife watched eagerly on the side of the kitchen. Even though he had never seen Mrs. Delmas. Or their house.

Sissi pulled out a notebook with neat writing. "Here are all the notes that we've taken," she said. "Herve copied them down for me and I think he added some extra things in himself."

If Odd and he hadn't gone on missions to sneak into Jeremie's room, steal his notebook, sneak into one of the teachers' offices, and use the copier, Ulrich might have felt a bit guilty. As it was, he grabbed "Sissi's" notebook and flipped through. The columns were lined neatly up, helpful tips were written in the margins on the sides and the bottoms. And he didn't miss (though Sissi might have) the small heart on the inside cover.

Sissi stared at him. "Do you understand it?"

Ulrich shrugged as he flipped through the pages: diagrams precisely drawn, arrows carefully labeled. Across the room, he noticed Herve looking at them out of top of his gaze.

At this moment, Ulrich did a decidedly out of character thing and sent a small smile to Herve. Herve returned it with a stiff nod and then bent back down to scripple notes on his paper, leaving a confused Magali to flip through the textbook.

"I get the main idea," he responded.

Sissi seemed happy with this. "Oh Ulrich, not only are you handsome, but you're smart too."

Ulrich didn't sigh, but he really, really wanted to. A couple minutes. Sissi had been almost human for a couple minutes.

And then he was reminded why he didn't like her like a tidal wave, wiping out a sandcastle.

"Daddy and I are staying in a place not to far from school," Sissi said. "Maybe you should come with me after school sometime so we can work on this. So much better than the busy computer lab."

"I like the computer lab," Ulrich said. "We can stay there."

Sissi huffed and Ulrich couldn't help but look away and smile. At least he got more time to insult her.

He didn't notice the glint in her eyes.

The project was worth a good majority of their grade. Which meant it had a substantial amount of time that students could work on their project.

Now, to say that all students promptly took this time and threw it out the window in lieu of video games, sports, and romance (not necessarily in that order) would be to falsify the humble dedication of the students that grace Kadic.

(Aelita and Jeremie had all required aspects done by the end of the first weekend, and by the end of the second they were taking trips to the local university to explore the library there and interview the local expert in chemistry. Herve wasn't far behind them, with Magali slowly but surely learning more about chemistry than she ever wanted to know. And, she'd never admit it, but developing a love for it.)

It would be safe to say, however, that the rest of the school population did not make use of this time.

But averages for table-football rose two hundred and thirteen percent, according to Milly and Tamiya. (The team consisting of Odd Della Robbia, Ulrich Stern, William Dunbar and Theo Gauthier reigning as supreme champions, as decided in the Kadic Cup tournament.)

Needless to say, Ulrich didn't work on his either.

As the weeks and months slipped by, the still lovely and even more elderly Suzanne Hertz failed to mention the project. Jeremie insisted that she wanted the students to be responsible for their own actions. Later, Ulrich thought it was probably onset of senility.

Sissi, however, wasn't about to let a meeting with Ulrich pass her up, so, three weeks before the project was unknowingly due, she cornered him when his friends left him alone for a few minutes. (She had really been stalking him, waiting for the moment he was alone and vulnerable, for three days and had almost cornered him in the showers if it hadn't been for the timely arrival of Odd and William.)

"Ulrich," she said sweetly.

(Ulrich thought it sounded oddly like a snake, waiting to inject him iwth a horrible, incurable poison. Though he reasoned that he might have been biased. Then realized he wasn't biased, he was observant.)

"Yes Sissi?" he asked with a forced calm.

She smiled, put a finger to her lips, and stepped closer to him.

He took a step back.

"I seem to recall that we have a project to do," she said. "And if I were you, I'd do it. My father is very keen on me keeping my science grade up and if we were to fail, I might _accidentally_ let _slip_ that I'm having trouble studying due to a particular mutt that someone must have snuck into the school." She paused for a second and continued, "I mean, at first I thought I was hallucinating. Who would break a school rule like that? But then Odd is such a trouble maker. And from what I've heard, he's on probation right now, isn't he?"

"You wouldn't!" Ulrich snarled.

Sissi took a step closer to him. And, with her voice as light and innocent as ever, she said, "watch me."

Ulrich sighed. "What do you want to do?"

Sissi smiled victoriously. "There's a café not to far from here. They have great coffee. I could use a warm drink, especially since it's getting to be so cold outside. Take me on a date, Ulrich Dear."

* * *

Winter was setting in with an aggression.

Temperatures had gone from mild to chilly in a matter of days, and the grey sky seemed closed off and unforgiving. However, sitting in a warm restaurant, watching people scurry out the window was comforting and cozy. The restaurant had round tables and was a bright yellow, with brown accents.

In fact, Ulrich could almost enjoy it.

And then he remembered the girl sitting across from him. She had her notebook out but was currently drawing in it. Hearts and names littered the back pages, combined with drawings of outfits and lists of boys in order of their cuteness.

He saw his name too many times in that book to be completely comfortable.

Sissi slowly took a sip from her cup, savoring it. Then she turned her attention to Ulrich.

He had to act fast.

"So, the plum pudding model of the atom," Ulrich said. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper with the assignment written on it. There were a few words obscured because of a mysterious liquid that had spilled, but he could get the general idea in most places.

"It says we need to make a visual aid to help us explain this to the class," Ulrich read. "In addition, we need to make a poster." He narrowed his eyes. "And type a two page report."

"So what do we know?" Sissi asked as she took another sip.

Ulrich shrugged. "Um, the atom is positive with negative spots placed throughout."

"Those are the raisins and other fruits," Sissi said, reading from her notebook.

"Wouldn't they be plums? It's plum pudding."

Sissi rolled her eyes. "They're made with raisins or dried grapes more. Sometimes other fruit. Or at least that's what we do. I don't know why it's called plum pudding, but that's not the point, is it, Ulrich Dear?"

"So the _raisins _would be the electrons?" He checked the notebook. "No, corpuscles."

He looked up. "_Corpuscles?"_

Sissi stared at him. She shrugged and took another sip, waving her hand for him to move on. He sighed and kept skimming over the notes.

"That's the main point," he said. "So what do you suggest we do as our visual aid?"

"That's easy," Sissi said. "We make a plum pudding. Come over to my house this Sunday."

She handed him a sheet of paper with her address already written on it, and Ulrich suspected this is what she had been planning all along.

"I'll see you there," she said. She took yet another sip and held her cup there as he left to go back into the howling wind and bleak skies.

* * *

That Sunday, Ulrich went to Jeremie's room, found directions to the address, and amidst the disbelieving stares of his roommate and the Einstein, he calmly left. Of course, he didn't tell Odd about any of Sissi's threats, because then he would have to admit he was spending time with Sissi to save Odd and that was much too emotional for an adolescent boy to do.

Her house was just outside the main gates of campus, hidden behind some trees (including many evergreen). It was large but not huge. He walked up the path and knocked on the door. In seventeen seconds (he had figured that if counted to thirty with no answer, he could leave) the door opened to reveal Jean-Pierre Delmas himself.

"Sissi told me to come because we're working on a project," Ulrich said.

Mr. Delmas nodded. "She mentioned something about that. She will be here in a few minutes. Meanwhile, have a seat."

The man had motioned to a room to the left of the door. It had several sofas and fluffy chairs. Each was a different color from the rest, several close shades of pink followed by pale yellows and dark blues. In the middle, there was a small table that was a light tan and at the far end of the room, there was another, larger table of the same wood with matching chairs set around it. The walls were a light grey. Not a grey like the angry clouds outside the ruffled the leaves that were still left on the trees, but a subtle, almost light blue grey, just a shade darker than the carpet.

Somehow, it all worked. Even the floral pattern drapes.

Ulrich sat in tense silence with the principal for a bit before the other man abruptly stood up. "I have some business I should take care of," he said, and retreated into a room off the one they were in. It had a wooden door and Ulrich could just catch a glimpse of a computer and a dark wooden desk.

Ulrich heard typing as he continued to sit, but he could swear he could also make out the telltale signs of a game that Odd had been obsessed with a few weeks prior.

A sound at the front door turned his attention away. It was the scraping sound, of someone trying to fit a key into the keyhole. Delmas must have locked the door as Ulrich had examined the room.

Finally, the door swung open and Ulrich heard boots walking on the wooden floor of the entryway. Sissi had arrived.

She walked over to the sofa he was sitting on and promptly sat down next to him, resting her arm over his shoulders.

He knew he should have taken the chair.

She had gone all out: make up applied perfectly, a combination of casual yet stylish clothes, and hair slightly curled. Ulrich wasn't impressed.

Sissi rolled her eyes and stood up, walking away without waiting to see if he was following her. He almost took this chance to run, but today Odd had bought him a coffee from the vending machine and he didn't want his roommate suspended for the time being.

So he followed her and felt like he was being led to the guillotine, twenty years too late.

She led him down the halls, which were a pale blue and to the very back of the house. The kitchen. The appliances were new, and the entire back wall seemed to be a window with a view of the trees and skies. The floor was stone here and there was a small table made with the light wood in the middle of the room for preparation.

"What are we doing?" Ulrich asked.

Sissi made her way to the pantry and emerged with two bowls, a couple bags, and some boxes, balanced precariously on her arms.

"It's the plum pudding model." She tossed (more like hurled) a bowl to him while putting her own on the counter in a mountain of supplies. "We're making a plum pudding."

She set down an old piece of paper with a handwritten recipe on it. She retrieved all of the ingredients from the kitchen as he measured them out and put them into the bowls. Finally, when all the ingredients were added, Sissi took two small coins that she had set on the edge of the table and tossed one into each of the bowls.

"They're for luck," she explained. "Whoever gets the piece with the coin in it is supposed to experience good fortune."

Instead of using the wooden spoon she was holding, she walked out of the kitchen and called, "Daddy, we're ready to stir."

In a few minutes, Jean-Pierre came into the kitchen. Sissi smiled and turned to Ulrich. "We each stir and you make a wish while you do it."

She went first, followed by Mr. Delmas, and then Ulrich.

Now, Ulrich didn't really want to be here, so his wish went something along the lines of: _'I hope Sissi and I do well on this project and I can get out of this house as soon as possible and I never have to deal with her again.'_

But, three weeks later, when they had made a poster, and talked to the class, somehow gotten a good grade, and passed out the slices of plum pudding, he didn't get the piece with the coin.

Why would he? Luck had never been on his side.

_And one day, he would look back and think of the time when his biggest worries were an assignment and a snob._


	2. Douze

A/N: Guys, the reception I got was phenomenal and I'd like to thank each and every one of you! I hope you enjoy this chapter, still a lit bit of setting the scene, but the plot thickens a small tad. I'd like to thank _Beavertail96_ for going over this for me.

* * *

Innocent until proven guilty.

One of the many things that if Jim knew, he'd rather not talk about it. Or think about it. And you could forget all hopes of him living his life by that. Let alone his job.

Which meant that Ulrich was in detention. Detention, in and of itself didn't bother him. (He had accumulated his fair share of detention over his stay at Kadic and he was past the point where it left much of an impact on him. Odd, on the other hand, had gotten so many detentions it was like a party because he got on great with almost all of the teachers. Outside school hours, of course.)

This detention, however, had the unfortunate timing of being right over a three day weekend.

And no one wanted that. Except for Jeremie. And even that was only one time.

But supercomputers and evil programs were really extenuating circumstances and didn't count.

Of course, it was the one weekend where Yumi was out of town, Odd was visiting his family with Aelita (They had been rather accepting of the cousin thing. No questions asked, just extra dessert served), even Jeremie was off with his parents at some conference he had been looking forward to for months

And that left Ulrich here. Alone at Kadic. With no one to even sock skate with.

Life could be cruel.

His detention finished around lunchtime, but then he was doomed to spend the rest of his time alone at Kadic. Well, he had Kiwi for company; Odd deciding that it would be easier to leave him under the watch of Ulrich than try to find a way to drag him on the train for his and Aelita's rendezvous with the Della Robbias in London. But even Kiwi was in an uncommon fit of lethargy.

So he was left to face the ghost town that Kadic had suddenly become.

He mostly resorted to walking around the campus and investigating all the nooks and crannies. There was a hidden door into the cafeteria he would hold over Odd's shoulders and a concealed staircase that could take you to the roof of the gym.

And then he found it.

Surrounded by small evergreen trees and large rocks there was a small garden, a little away from the main office. He spent some time looking around the place. Small stones were set into ground with benches and in the middle was soil with plants. A small plaque at the end said '_in memory of'_ but the name was too beaten by the weather to read. Flowers grew all around and there was a small fountain surrounded by the plants. The garden appeared as if it was maintained regularly and Ulrich absently wondered how many people knew about this place. He didn't even know if he wanted to tell anyone about this.

Though he could imagine bringing Yumi here. The perfect spot for a discreet picnic. He would set candles around and give her a bouquet of flowers he picked from here and they would sit on the edge of the fountain and talk.

She would appreciate that. And there would be no Odd to get in his way.

After he left the garden, he walked over to the factory. The river was peaceful, gently lapping along the shore. The sun was slowly being overtaken by clouds, and he slipped inside.

The factory had always been…eerie. It was old and abandoned, and the wind would whistle through the broken windows and sagging walls. He went to the very top, looking at all the leftover supplies and giant windows.

He stopped by the main computer and sighed. It hadn't been that long since they turned it off, and he was still adjusting to not being woken up at three in the morning because of some XANA attack. He kind of missed it. And kind of didn't. But such was life.

So he turned away from the supercomputer, this time for the last time, and walked away from the factory. He took the scenic route, walking all the way across the bridge and down the road to Kadic. The trees were blooming with new found buds of leaves and the birds were back, chirping happily as the sun beat warmly on his back.

It was so perfect it was disgusting.

He had detention the next morning as well, of course, and still no one was around the entire school. At least, that's what he thought until he heard the scream.

It was a scream that he (unfortunately) had heard before. One that could come from none other than Kadic's very own stuck-up beauty queen herself, Sissi Delmas. He had heard that same sound coming from her mouth so many times he could place it as instantly as the stench of Odd's feet or Hertz's droning science lectures.

It was like a classroom with one kid scratching his nails on the chalkboard on one side of the board and another kid drawing with squeaky chalk on the other. Only worse because in that classroom, neither of the kids had to be Sissi, and here there was no way it wasn't.

Sissi had a 'one size fits all' type of scream, meaning that the atrocious sound that came out of her mouth could cover a multitude of events. From Herve getting on her nerves to her lipstick being gone, to Odd insulting her, to being attacked by inanimate objects due to the world's _favorite_ evil computer program. She had perfected the talent of adapting her scream to any situation.

And since he had the fortune of being stuck with her a disproportionate amount of his time, it fell on him more often than not to figure out what the cause was. Really didn't want to deal with this today.

The scream (which was still happening) was getting closer and closer to him.

So Ulrich, being the smart boy that he was, ran away.

There was a time when he would have sucked it up and gone to see what a problem was. But he had just been in the factory and the computer had been one hundred percent shut down, so the chance of it being a XANA Attack was a zero. And as the scream was persisting and not accompanied by a "you don't know who my father is!" he could only assume she wasn't in any real trouble.

So he ran to the most convenient spot he could think of that he was sure Sissi would never ever find. The garden.

He had forgotten, however, in his blinding haste that while he boarded on the Kadic campus, Sissi practically lived on it, and that in her time of distress she might seek out the same solace that he did. Which, as it turned out, was the garden.

He had just settled down, resting on the park bunch, looking up at the clear blue sky above his head and the angry grey clouds off to the side that were about to blow in over him. A storm was coming. Fantastic.

At least he would have an excuse to go back to his room.

But, as for now, he would stay right where he was and think and contemplate his life and human morality. (In other words, he was going to sleep.)

And that's when he heard the rushing footsteps and the rough panting. It was oddly high pitched, more of a combination of a gasp and a squeal. And that could only mean one thing. Sissi.

She raced through the small hole in the pine trees and rock, which is what Ulrich realized was the only way to get in (or out). As soon as she entered the area she sank to a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her legs and trying to get a hold of her breathing.

Ulrich didn't know what to do. He didn't want to get poked in a million different places with a million different pine needles, but he didn't want Sissi to discover his presence and she was in the way of the only non-piny escape route.

He could also go up and talk to her, but that was the most idiotic thing he could possibly do. Only a fool would talk to Sissi, especially if that fool's name was Ulrich Stern.

Which is exactly what he did.

Maybe it was because he was guilty about running away from her, or the fact that as a Lyoko Warrior he would always try to help people (something none of them would ever be able to shake which would lead to two of their deaths) or just him doing right on their offer to be her friend they had made at the end of their reign as heroes.

He walked over to Sissi and laid his hand on her shoulder.

The reaction was instantaneous. Her head whipped to his direction and she was suddenly on her feet, still panting but with her fists out- ready to put up a fight.

Then she caught sight of him and blushed, lowering her fists and instead using her hands to instantaneously fix her hair, which was wild.

Her barrette had fallen off sometime. There were twigs and leaves tangled in the normally pristine hair. She was sweaty too- something Ulrich had never really seen Sissi as, and because of it certain strands were clinging to her face or flopping around.

In short, she looked a little hideous.

He also noticed that she was shivering a bit, even though it was a nice temperature outside, all things considered.

"Oh, Ulrich," Sissi said hurriedly. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same thing about you."

Sissi smiled and waved a hand. "But Ulrich, dear, this is where I come to relax. Isn't it peaceful. And plus, Nicholas and Herve don't know about it and I'd like to keep it that way! But if you want to share this little secret with me, I wouldn't mind. You can keep a secret though, right."

"Oh you have no idea."

Sissi's eyes furrowed and she crossed her arms. "Of course you can. It was you and your little group of friends that ran around the last few years, doing everything you could to not let us find out." She paused, finger to her lips. "Come to think of it, you stopped a while ago. What happened?"

"Why did you scream?" Ulrich asked abruptly.

Sissi's demeanor changed abruptly. "It's none of your business, so if I were you I would scram, okay?"

Ulrich's eyes widened by a margin, but Sissi wasn't paying any attention to him. She was staring at the suddenly cloudy sky and the suddenly raging wind.

"Sissi," Ulrich said. "Is something wrong?"

Sissi pouted. "Even if I told you, you would just make fun of me with your horrible group of friends."

"My friends aren't here," Ulrich said, and mentally kicked himself because he had no idea _why _was he being _nice_ to _Sissi_. Pigs weren't flying and to his knowledge, Hell hadn't yet frozen over. But here he was. Stupid Lyoko making him always the hero, always the martyr.

"Fine," Sissi said and she sounded angry. "If you must know, I think Leon Corbet is back."

_Leon Corbet_. The name was familiar. Jogging some memory from some time long ago, but for the life of him, Ulrich just couldn't remember what it was. "Who's Leon Corbet?"

"Kadic's ghost," Sissi said, sighing in irritation. "He was killed about a hundred years ago while Kadic was being built. They say he still haunts the school to this day. You should know this, Ulrich, you were at the séance."

And Ulrich did remember. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean he's real. It was just Odd."

Sissi glared at him and he figured that admitting it had been one big prank was probably not the smartest thing he could have done. But then again, neither was talking to Sissi and while two lefts didn't make a right (but three did? Ulrich had never gotten that expression) maybe two dumb things could cancel each other out.

But since when did Sissi ever make things easy.

"Well then, Ulrich, you should be glad to know that he's back, and this time there's no Odd to fake us. I was walking past the boiler room and the door just opened and no one was there because I checked."

"Why does this make me glad?"

Sissi smiled. "Because you get to hang out with me all day while we go check it out. You never know, you may have to fight him!"

"You can't fight a ghost, Sissi."

Sissi shrugged and grabbed his hand, walking out of the garden. "Come on, let's go check it out."

In hindsight, he really should have faced the pine needles and left Sissi by herself.

'_But at least it's something to do,'_ one side of his brain reasoned. Probably the side the little angel was sitting on.

'_With Sissi?"_ the other side of his brain scoffed, _'You'd rather clean Odd's side of the room while Kiwi is shedding than hang out with her.'_

But he really had no choice because Sissi's grip on his wrist was really, really, inhumanly tight and her eyes were narrowed and scrutinizing every single move he took. Because she might be obsessed with him, but she sure didn't trust him.

They walked to the boiler room only to find that everything was completely normal. No doors swung open. No objects picked themselves up. The temperature wasn't even different (taking into account the normal temperature changes of boiler rooms, of course).

Suddenly, a large crack of lightening made the room brighter for a split second and then, not even a second later, all the lights went out. Ulrich heard Sissi's terrified scream mix with the roar of thunder as he felt her arms wrap around him.

"W-w-we should get out of here," Sissi said. Ulrich nodded and they felt their way out of the dark room. When they got outside, it was to a downpour of rain. They sprinted across the grounds to the library (or Ulrich headed to the library and Sissi followed).

Sissi and Ulrich were wet and the library was cold. But it was out of the rain and relatively unhaunted. Ulrich had hoped that the storm would put all thoughts of Leon Corbet out of Sissi's head, but their haven only seemed to inspire her further.

She paced back and forth down one of the aisles. Ulrich sat at the end, reading a book about football that he had read countless times before. He flipped to page seventy-nine which illustrated the one technique he had been trying since before his arrival at Kadic.

"I don't understand," Sissi said angrily, "there's got to be some sign that he's there. I know what I saw, I just know it!" Her voice was getting into the dangerous level of high pitch. She quickly walked over to Ulrich and poked him in the chest. "You believe me, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course I do, Sissi," Ulrich said.

But she seemed to catch him in his lie and there was a fire in her eyes. But then they seemed to light up with something. "Hey, Ulrich, you know that factory not far from here? You know, the one right on the river."

"Uh, yeah, I've seen it."

Sissi smacked her hands together. "Well when was it created? Maybe it was made around the same time Kadic was and Leon Corbet worked on it right before Kadic or maybe just a little bit and he's there right now!"

Ulrich laughed nervously. "I don't understand. He died at Kadic, so wouldn't he, uh, be at Kadic."

Sissi shook her head. "Ghosts stay in places they had their greatest happiness or greatest sadness. Sadness would be death or something which explains Kadic, but maybe the factory was a bad job that he wants to forget or a job he loved!"

"Ulrich!" Her voice trilled with excitement. She bent down and grabbed his shirt and he had to look through her arms to see the step by step instructions and pictures. (He would practice it once the storm ended and he got Sissi out of his hair.) "We'll go check the factory out!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Ulrich said.

Sissi abruptly stood up, hands on her hips. "Why not?"

"Well, it's abandoned and could be dangerous. I mean, students aren't really supposed to go in there, right?"

Sissi frowned but didn't say anything. Her frown, however, did continue to deepen.

"Are you alright?" Ulrich asked.

"I don't know," Sissi said. "I'm trying to remember something but the memory just isn't coming to me, you know what I mean? It's so weird to, because I really haven't been in the factory that much…" she broke off, staring at the book shelf. "Do you remember that director that used the factory as a movie set?"

"No," Ulrich said, "he wanted to use the factory as a movie set, remember. But it had already been used so he chose a different location."

Sissi's frown didn't lighten for a few minutes, but then she sighed and looked up. "I guess you're right, but I could have sworn that he did." She shook her head. "All these ghost stories must be playing with my memories."

"Probably," Ulrich agreed. "Maybe we should save the factory for another day."

And he should not have said anything. Because there was a chance she would have forgotten about it (not a big one, but a chance).

"What? Of course we're not going to give it up," Sissi said. "What are you thinking? This could be our only chance!"

"I just don't think it's a good idea," Ulrich said.

"Well I'm going. And you don't have to come with me if you don't want to!" Sissi huffed.

Of course, this spoke to the fact that Sissi really never got a hold of the fact that offering Ulrich to not go with her was exactly what he wanted. But, to her advantage, she had unknowing stumbled into territory where there was no way Ulrich was going to not go with her.

Because if he couldn't keep her away from the factory, he would certainly keep her away from the supercomputer.

The fact that the biggest crisis of someone figuring out about the factory came from a stupid, misguided attempt to find a ghost was something that was not lost on Ulrich. And he hated that.

The storm ended too soon, and before he knew it, Ulrich was solemnly following Sissi on the way to the factory. Her boots splashed in the puddles and she nearly lost her balance three times in the first five minutes.

"So Ulrich," she asked as they walked across the bridge (him for the second time that day), "Why are you and your friends so obsessed with this place?"

"What do you mean?" Ulrich asked.

Sissi rolled her eyes. "Please, Ulrich Dear. You and your little group are always talking about the factory and I want to know why."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ulrich said. "I've never been there in my life. I think Jeremie has, though. He likes to look for scrap parts to build his robots."

Sissi raised an eyebrow. And they were at the factory.

"I'm going to find out what you guys have been hiding."

No one ever said that Sissi was a tactical mastermind. (No one had ever called her a genius either, if you looked past Nicholas, because most people considered his opinions of intelligence automatically null and void.) Case in point: she just admitted to finding the secret of someone to the person who's secret she was finding.

She came to the edge and saw the chains hanging from the ceiling. She reached for it and Ulrich stuck out a hand to stop her.

"I'm warning you Sissi, this won't end well."

She shoved his hand aside and hopped onto the chain. Ulrich predicted her move and had grabbed the other one. He reached out and held onto Sissi's chain. She growled and elbow him, pushing him off of her chain.

She was successful in that aspect it, but it wasn't the only result. And the second consequence was not one that either of them wanted.

Because when she pushed him off of her chain, she also pushed him off of his.

And he fell through the air until he abruptly landed.

_It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end._

Ulrich was aware just enough to hear something crack. (He didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, it sounded really bad). He felt the pain flood in from everywhere. And he saw Sissi come to a panicked landing and hurry to them. Water hit his face.

And then everything vanished.

In the time that followed where he regained consciousness, Ulrich didn't remember a lot. He somewhat remembered Sissi as she frantically called her father, and Jim and Delmas as they carried him to Delmas' car and brought him to the hospital.

Sitting in the waiting from was a little bit of a blur. Getting his legs and arms and back X-rayed and his head scanned (apparently had had a concussion, go figure) was a little bit more clear, as with the procedures.

But he didn't remember Sissi coming in, her face wet and eyes red, repeating _'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry_' over and over again. He didn't remember Jim patting his shoulder a bit too hard, pounding him into the bed. And he didn't see the older man as he bit his bottom lip and seemed to stare right through him.

The only thing he remembered with any clarity was the doctor coming in. Her face was considerate and her hair was pulled into a ponytail with strands lazily hanging out and she looked at him with a sympathy that he couldn't stand.

And even then, he didn't remember all the words she said, or the letters she used, or any of the terminology. But he knows that she said it, one way or another. Jeremie might have been able to understand it, but he was hurting too much to even try.

But there was one thing he could remember as clear as day. She had turned to him, and after the jargon and swirl of words and letters that had rushed from her mouth, she finished simply and memorably. He didn't remember the specific words, but the intent was clear.

_He would never be able to play football again. He would never be able to play football again. He would never be able to play football again._

And he remembered falling asleep and that even when he woke up, his friends weren't there. And when they finally were- Odd and Aelita first, then Yumi, and then Jeremi- there was nothing they could say that could make it better.


	3. Onze

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. This chapter was _hell._ Basically last chapter, this chapter, and the next chapter are probably the most connected of any chapter on here and I knew how this one needed to start and needed to end but I had no idea what to put on in the middle. That being said, I'm pretty excited for next chapter. It should get easier from here on out. Should.

* * *

Ulrich still hadn't told anybody about the garden, and Sissi seemed to unconsciously understand that it was completely and utterly off limits.

Because Ulrich had been spending a frighteningly large amount of time there and not once had he seen Sissi or even heard the sound of her feet meandering close to the garden or seen the shadow of a figure looking through the entrance to see if the coast was clear.

Probably because she knew that this was where Ulrich would be and for once, she didn't want to see him. Didn't want to face him.

Because Ulrich's grades _sucked._ And really, he had been prepared to play football for the rest of his life- a few more years of practice and fine-tuning and he could have had his pick of team to play for. (Or, in a more realistic sense, he would have had his pick of teams to try out for and eventually make back-up or practice squad. And then he would have worked his way up. Or something.)

After Lyoko, football was all he had. What he needed. The rush of adrenaline, the us vs them mentality, the euphoria of victory and the sting of defeat.

Ulrich Stern was competitive. And when he wasn't fighting for the fate of the world, fighting for the pride of his school (and himself) was the next best thing.

But nope, Sissi just had to come and in one afternoon ruin something that had taken years of grueling practices, careful monitoring of his diet (he wasn't Odd! He couldn't just eat and eat and eat), countless sacrifices, and really the only way to both deal with school and make his parents proud of him.

Yep, that was about the sum of it.

As time went on, most of Ulrich's not-so-noble aspirations went along with it. Bit by bit, he began to spend less time in the garden and more time with his friends. The damage, however, had been done. Sometime, between the three occasions where he locked Odd out of the room (and three times Odd locked him out of the room for being an ass) and the second time he snapped at Yumi, his friendship with the group had become strained.

He probably should have seen that coming. Maybe he was just spoiled by Lyoko- knowledge that no matter what he did they still needed him to save the world. Maybe he just thought they would give him time. Maybe they did, but months of cold shoulders and even colder stares could wear away even Aelita's patience.

And that girl had the patience of an angel.

But Ulrich's foresight sucked almost as much as his grades (yet his grades really only sucked because it took him until Kadic for his foresight to kick in and say that knowledge was somewhat, maybe, a little bit important. And by then the damage had been done).

So he hadn't thought about preserving any friendships- he hadn't even let Odd have any of his mashed potatoes in weeks or walk Yumi home from Kadic. He would rack his brains and try to find some event- some redeeming event that would prove even to himself he that he was justified.

And he had found some.

But they didn't outweigh the bad. So while he could easily say he was still friends with the other Lyoko Warriors, it had still been voted that he needed to have an re-initiation test. Odd had suggested mummifying the skeleton in the science department with almost a desperate look, but Ulrich had been too angry to even remember- let alone comment-on the particular idea. And by the time he had remembered, yet again, it had been too late. The world was playing a game of niceness and it wasn't looking that good for Ulrich.

(Niceness Score:  
World- 136,793,207  
Ulrich- 4)

He realized this, of course, as he was walking away from them and couldn't bring himself to turn around, walk up to them, laugh like an idiot, and walk away.

Instead, he gave the skeleton an Odd hairstyle and they both got detention.

It was worth it because the second Odd had walked into science to see a skeleton in his mirror image, a grin so large had split across his face that Ulrich was sure there was an Earthquake somewhere and a new fault line had just formed.

Odd was a little too forgiving but Ulrich wasn't going to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Especially not when that mouth belonged to Odd. (He had seen the way Odd devoured breakfast- and just what he devoured- too many times to get that close.) And skeletons in the image of Odd happened to give _him_ nightmares of all the things that could have gone wrong and that shook him up just a bit too much. Not that he would ever admit it.

And so then he had his best friend back. And that was when he realized that somehow he had missed part of their friends' lives.

He doesn't remember her name. She was plain, with brown hair in a loose ponytail and an oversized tan T-shirt. He wouldn't notice her if she had walked past him on a crowded street but apparently Odd did. Because they were going steady and Ulrich didn't know.

Apparently Theo had been Odd's wingman when they picked her up. And William had helped. Some new, terrible trio had formed and Ulrich wasn't even there to make it a quartet. He wouldn't mind doing barbershop. He would probably sound better than William (since he was superior to littlewillykins in every way, shape, and form) and he knew for a fact he sang better than Odd.

Theo, who was always averagely-perfect in everything, was an alright singer. Just like he got alright grades, told alright jokes, played alright football, and stole Ulrich's best friend. Ulrich was fairly positive that he sang worse than the other boy. But second, while not winning, was acceptable (in singing related things only). It's not like he had ever planned on a career in singing.

Though by now, he was just desperate enough to consider it.

It was okay though, because Odd was as forgiving or as oblivious (was there even really a difference between the two when it came to Odd?) as ever and as soon as Ulrich had opened his mouth (to apologize, to say 'je suis désolé' and 'mi dispiace' and 'I'm sorry' and maybe- just maybe- even ask for forgiveness), Odd had placed a hand on his shoulders and casually asked if he wanted to go get dinner and that they were serving lasagna so it'd be a bad idea to be late.

So Ulrich had accepted that forgiveness for what it was.

And moved on to the rest of his friends.

Jeremie had spent the first part of his life totally alone and the second part obsessed with warding off a sentient fluke of computer programming. He had no reason to talk about (let alone harbor a grudge against) Ulrich's recent behavior; and he didn't.

Aelita, who had been trapped in a virtual world, was with Jeremie when Ulrich mumbled through an apology (it wasn't very good, he ended up using a metaphor about ostriches and corn that didn't make any sense- even to him), and she had just shrugged and said something to the tune of 'I knew you'd get over yourself.'

Yumi though, Yumi would be the problem, Ulrich figured. And he was right. Yumi who hadn't had any friends until she forced herself onto their secret. Yumi who had seen Lyoko as a second chance. Yumi who had confided in him.

Yumi who was more stubborn than a mule.

She wouldn't forgive him easily. When he tried during practice, she had kicked him in the side, knocked him down, and stormed away.

When he had asked her later in the courtyard (in hindsight, practice had been a _terrible_ idea), she had kicked him in the side, knocked him down, and stormed away.

He wasn't about to try the direct approach a third time.

That, of course, did not mean he was prepared to give up. He had been through near-death and almost-kisses and secret-smiles and- _dammit_- an entire virtual world with her and he wasn't going to let their whole…whatever they had together get completely ruined just because his worst also happened to bring out the worst of Yumi.

So he and his new little quartet, along with the pair of Einsteins, came up with a plan of action. Ulrich and Yumi would go on a little _date_. Nothing big or fancy, Odd had pointed out, they didn't want to scare Yumi away.

Ulrich, who was still rubbing his sore side and who had been diagnosed with a minor concussion from when he hit a rock on the ground., didn't believe that asking Yumi on a date would scare her (turn her into a real menace, more likely).

Ulrich's idea had been to take her to the garden. It was secluded and pretty and even though Yumi was intimidating, he knew for a fact she also thought Kiwi was cute and sometimes rewatched Disney Princess movies so a romantic date in a nice garden would not be unwelcome.

It was when he was considering this idea that he was also walking down a deserted hallway of Kadic. Suddenly, the door to the chemistry lab opened and Sissi walked out. Her T-shirt seemed a little bit too big for her and her face was pale. While usually perfectly modeled, it seemed that she had shoveled her hair into an easy ponytail.

She had missed all of her classes for the last week, he remembered, so he supposed that she had been sick. She certainly looked it.

"Ulrich," she said. Her eyes were wide and she was quickly combing her hair with her fingers. "What are you doing here?"

"Just walking," Ulrich said, not impolitely. But nowhere near kindly. "You making up some work or something?"

"Oh uh- yeah," Sissi said. "I had the flu or something. It was _terrible_. And Hertz, the old bag, came to visit me while I was on the brink of death in the infirmary and told me I had to make up the work in class as soon as I could."

They came to the end of the hallway (thankfully) and Sissi smiled at Ulrich. "Bye Ulrich, dear. You're lucky I'm not going to tell my father that you were wandering around the school buildings without the required permission."

"Wow. _Thanks._"

Sissi didn't smile. Instead, she looked him dead in the eye. "Now we're even." And then, looking around the grounds to make sure no one was in sight (probably trying to hide her shabby appearance, Ulrich reasoned) she quickly walked away.

It didn't escape Ulrich's notice that she went in the opposite direction of the dorms, instead going back towards his garden- which had probably been hers originally.

So she had taken the garden back, hadn't she.

Well that certainly threw his plan out the window.

* * *

In the end, Yumi and Ulrich did get their…meeting. It wasn't easy and it had been Odd and Aelita's setup. They had figured that they could invite everyone in their group to their favorite restaurant. It was cheap and casual and the waitress always mixed up their names but they loved it anyway.

However, one by one they had each bailed out, until it was only Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd who had snuck out one Saturday evening. Odd had walked with them halfway to the restaurant when he suddenly remembered that he had gotten detention that evening and that Jim was going to _kill _him.

And with no other explanation, he had scampered off and left the two of them together.

"Odd's not very discreet," Yumi said as she walked into the restaurant and pushed it open for Ulrich.

"What do you mean by that?"

Yumi turned around to face him and rolled her eyes. "Odd is about as good at secrecy as you are at lying."

Ulrich felt his face warm and Yumi turned around to talk to the hostess. So far, the plan was going _terribly_.

He wondered if it was too late to call Odd and get some backup. His hand was reaching for his phone when Yumi's came out of nowhere and grasped it. "Oh no you don't," she hissed threateningly. "You go to all this trouble to be able to talk to me, then I'm going to let you."

Ulrich swallowed as Yumi lead them to their table.

They sat down and pretended to read the menus.

"You know," Yumi said at long last. "I don't think this is going to work."

"This?"

"You know what I'm talking about." She motioned to the two of them. "You. Me. Us. I just don't think it's going to work out. I mean, we've been trying for how long?"

"We were a bit too preoccupied saving the world," Ulrich said. "This is different."

"Yeah. Because now there's nothing tying us together," Yumi pointed out. "Last year, if you had injured your leg like you did a few months ago, you would have been angry and you would have sulked but you also would have eventually let. us. in."

Ulrich's mouth opened and shut like a closed fish but Yumi held her hand up. "Ulrich, listen. I had thought things would be different at Lyoko. I had thought- _hoped_- that maybe something would happen between us. But it's not going to work and it's not fair to either of us."

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I wish it had been different," she muttered.

And Ulrich was (despite his grades) a smart boy. He knew when a fight was lost (though his intelligence didn't quite extend to actually giving up), he knew when skipping school was worth it (something Odd had never learned), and he knew when there was no arguing with Yumi (possibly the only subject that he never needed any help with).

This was one of those times, so instead, in a hoarse voice, he whispered. "Still friends, right?"

And while Yumi didn't hug him (she wasn't usually a hugging person and she had already used up all her allotted affection for the evening) she did the Yumi equivalent of it. She tapped his cheek (right where she had kissed him) and then gently knocked him on the forehead.

"That was never a question."

_And unknown to them, a few blocks away, sirens were wailing and someone was screaming. _


End file.
